3.73's broken in..

[1998silverbird]

I had my 3.73's installed Saturday and just reached 300 miles earlier.. I read some mixed reviews on 3.73's about they wine and the gas mileage sucks.. I have motive gears and they make less noise then my stock 3.23's did.. They dont wine one bit.. At 70mph with the 3.23's I was at 2100 rpms in 5th gear.. with 3.73' its 2500 rpms.. 65 mph is at 2350rpms.. not really that big of a difference but the pull is unbelievable and the top end will kick *** when I get my speedo recalibrated and limiter removed.. going from 3.23's - 3.73's is like adding another 50 shot of N20.. I will let everyone know what kind of gas mileage I get on the highway because I am heading home to Jersey this weekend and with my old gears I used 1/2 tank to get home.. Its about 260 miles..3.73' kick *** !! [img]graemlins/fluffy.gif[/img]

[TrixTeR]

how much did everything cost all together?

[Harry94]

Oh yeah! Another satisfied 3.73 customer :cool: . Did you get your LSD installed with the gears? I've taken .3 in the 1/4 so far. Still learnin how to launch. Way different from 3.23 open!

As far as mileage you should still be getting over 20mpg.

[MustangEater8251]

I went form 3.23s-3.42s and I can agree that the jump to 3.73s woudl not be too harsh on everyday driving, it will affect your topend, I felt a difference in my topend with the 3.42 swap but its great.

Like said a big gear swap does feel like a power adder. [img]smile.gif[/img]

With a 5-speed most anything is liveable, jsut put the car in 5th gear ;)

[1998silverbird]

I had my LSD intstalled since Feburary.. I thought I had 3.73 then but when We went to take the old gears out we noticed that the numberes were the same on each ring.. I had a 3.73 pinion and a 3.23 ring.. So The shop charged me 175.00 for the LSD/ Gear install but we just put the LSD in with the old 3.23's.. They told me just bring in the gears when I get them and when they have time they will install them for free.. Its kinda nice to have a good performance shop that knows how to keep customers.. They installed them on Saturday morning in like 1 hr.. 20 minuets of that was getting my car on the frame lift since it is lowered you have to jack up the front to get the lift under the Subframe connectors.. I got the Gears from LS1 tech brand new.. the dude sold them to me for 125.00.. The LSD was 92.00 and gear install kit was 40.00.. ITs just like having a duel stage nitrous shot now.. I hit it in first and it throws you back into the seat and hit second and spray and throws you back again.. cruising at 65 and the rpms are at 2350.. Not bad..

[Devilboy28]

SWEEET! People talking smack about 3.73s don't know what thay are saying! I'm thinking about going to 4.10s now!

[1998silverbird]

4.10's should put your rpms at around 2500 at 65mph.. My speedo reads 10 mph faster then I am actually going.. yours would be like 12-15 mph faster then you are going.. The reason I think people think 3.73's and higher kill top end is because they dont recalibrate there speedo.. when my speedo is at 110 I am actually doin 100mph.. for everyone with 3.23's.. If you want to know how bad 3.73's are on your RPMS consider your rpms at 75 mph is what rpms are at 65 mph.. it should be some were between 2300-2400rpms..

[black stripes camaro]

I am getting my 3.73's put on tomarrow, I cant wait.

[1998silverbird]

Put about 300 miles on them for break in time.. Dont stomp on them from a stop or get on the hard until that 300 mile point.. what brand do you have??

[Skinny]

My car bone stock with 2.73s got 26.5 mpg on the highway. After the 3.73 install, the TSP lid and FRA mod, I got 24 mpg on the highway. City mileage is a bit worse, but not too bad. 20mpg or so. This is in an automatic, btw.

[1998silverbird]

Exactly.. You lost 2 mpg with the gear swap.. I dont understand why everyone is against going with a lower gear.. I was kinda nervous at first but said I wanted to get up in the rpms fast and new 3.73's are a perfect gear for a 5-speed..

[black stripes camaro]

I think I have Richmond, I dont know because I bought them off of a friend.

[black stripes camaro]

how would the gears "break in"? I just dont see why they would need to.

[Devilboy28]

My gears said to have a 500 mile break in period.

[AMinor65]

When I got my gears installed, I was told to heat them up (drive 15 minutes on highway) 5 times with at least 4 hours downtime to let them cool completely off. The whine, if you want to call it that, was barely noticeable when I got the gears, and now it is completely gone.

I have GM Motive gears too. :D

Oh, I didn't burn out or go to the track with them for 1000 miles. My mechanic said 500.

[ June 18, 2003: Message edited by: AMinor65 ]</p>